88R1358 TJB-F
By: Paxton S.B. No. 983
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to disclosure under the public information law of
information related to a competitive matter involving the provision
of cable, Internet, or broadband services by a public power
utility.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 552.133(a), (a-1), and (b-1),
Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) In this section:
(1) "Broadband service" has the meaning assigned by
Section 181.048, Utilities Code.
(2) "Public [, "public] power utility" means an entity
providing electric or gas utility services that is subject to the
provisions of this chapter.
(a-1) For purposes of this section, "competitive matter"
means a utility-related matter, including a cable, Internet, or
broadband service matter, that is related to the public power
utility's competitive activity, including commercial information,
and would, if disclosed, give advantage to competitors or
prospective competitors. The term:
(1) means a matter that is reasonably related to the
following categories of information:
(A) generation unit specific and portfolio fixed
and variable costs, including forecasts of those costs, capital
improvement plans for generation units, and generation unit
operating characteristics and outage scheduling;
(B) bidding and pricing information for
purchased power, generation and fuel, and Electric Reliability
Council of Texas bids, prices, offers, and related services and
strategies;
(C) effective fuel and purchased power
agreements and fuel transportation arrangements and contracts;
(D) risk management information, contracts, and
strategies, including fuel hedging and storage;
(E) plans, studies, proposals, and analyses for
system improvements, additions, or sales, other than transmission
and distribution system improvements inside the service area for
which the public power utility is the sole certificated retail
provider; and
(F) customer billing, contract, and usage
information, electric power pricing information, system load
characteristics, and electric power marketing analyses and
strategies; [and]
(2) means a matter reasonably related to information
involving the provision of cable, Internet, or broadband services
by a public power utility, including:
(A) a capital improvement plan;
(B) an expense related to the installation of a
facility to provide those services;
(C) bidding and pricing information for
installation of the facility;
(D) risk management information, contracts, and
strategies;
(E) plans, studies, proposals, and analyses for:
(i) system improvements, additions, or
sales; or
(ii) establishing pricing for providing
those services; and
(F) customer billing, contract, and usage
information; and
(3) does not include the following categories of
information:
(A) information relating to the provision of
distribution access service, including the terms and conditions of
the service and the rates charged for the service but not including
information concerning utility-related services or products that
are competitive;
(B) information relating to the provision of
transmission service that is required to be filed with the Public
Utility Commission of Texas, subject to any confidentiality
provided for under the rules of the commission;
(C) information for the distribution system
pertaining to reliability and continuity of service, to the extent
not security-sensitive, that relates to emergency management,
identification of critical loads such as hospitals and police,
records of interruption, and distribution feeder standards;
(D) any substantive rule or tariff of general
applicability regarding rates, service offerings, service
regulation, customer protections, or customer service adopted by
the public power utility as authorized by law;
(E) aggregate information reflecting receipts or
expenditures of funds of the public power utility, of the type that
would be included in audited financial statements;
(F) information relating to equal employment
opportunities for minority groups, as filed with local, state, or
federal agencies;
(G) information relating to the public power
utility's performance in contracting with minority business
entities;
(H) information relating to nuclear
decommissioning trust agreements, of the type required to be
included in audited financial statements;
(I) information relating to the amount and timing
of any transfer to an owning city's general fund;
(J) information relating to environmental
compliance as required to be filed with any local, state, or
national environmental authority, subject to any confidentiality
provided under the rules of those authorities;
(K) names of public officers of the public power
utility and the voting records of those officers for all matters
other than those within the scope of a competitive resolution
provided for by this section;
(L) a description of the public power utility's
central and field organization, including the established places at
which the public may obtain information, submit information and
requests, or obtain decisions and the identification of employees
from whom the public may obtain information, submit information or
requests, or obtain decisions;
(M) information identifying the general course
and method by which the public power utility's functions are
channeled and determined, including the nature and requirements of
all formal and informal policies and procedures;
(N) salaries and total compensation of all
employees of a public power utility;
(O) information publicly released by the
Electric Reliability Council of Texas in accordance with a law,
rule, or protocol generally applicable to similarly situated market
participants; or
(P) information related to a chilled water
program, as defined by Section 11.003, Utilities Code.
(b-1) Notwithstanding any contrary provision of Subsection
(b), information or records of a municipally owned utility or
municipality that operates a chilled water program are subject to
disclosure under this chapter if the information or records are
reasonably related to:
(1) a municipally owned utility's rate review process;
(2) the method a municipality or municipally owned
utility uses to set rates for retail electric service; or
(3) the method a municipality or municipally owned
utility uses to set rates for a chilled water program described by
Subsection (a-1)(3)(P) [(a-1)(2)(P)].
SECTION 2. Section 552.133, Government Code, as amended by
this Act, applies only to a request for public information received
by a governmental body or an officer for public information on or
after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.